“Jewish history turns out not to be an either/or story - as in, either pure Judaism detached from its surroundings or else assimilation - but rather, for the vast majority, the adventure of living in between.” StoriesTurnsAdventurePureMajorityJudaismSurroundingsDetachedAssimilationEither OrJewish History Author:Simon Schama
“Presently, the Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History has been brought about to encourage and sponsor a variety of historical activities that advance our understanding of the American Jewish experience as it marks this milestone anniversary.” YearsHas BeensUnderstandingActivityMarkHistoricalVarietyAnniversarySponsorsMilestoneJewish History Author:Jon Porter
“My experience as a Jewish American has often been as a spectator of one-sided conversations, or more like monologues, about Israel, Jewish History, Jewish identity, etc. Although there are profound divisions amongst Jews on all of these topics there are not many opportunities for deep and thoughtful dialogue about them.” OpportunityIdentityConversationProfoundJewIsraelDialogueThoughtfulEtcDivisionTopicsSpectatorsMonologuesOne SidedJewish HistoryJewish Identity Author:Jill Soloway
“Judaism, Christianity, and I'm sure other religions also, are having to deal with the fact that they may or may not have lived up at all times to the injunctions of their own mystical center. For instance, when I went to Sunday school, I remember learning more about Jewish history than about God. So, once again, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the Jewish religion, it just means that sometimes people are not fed the mystical food - the spiritual food - of their own religious background.” PeopleMayMeanSometimesFactsSchoolRememberSpiritualReligiousDealsChristianityBackgroundsInstanceAll TimeSundayFedsMysticalJudaismSunday SchoolJewish HistoryLearning MoreJewish ReligionSpiritual Food Author:Marianne Williamson
“I think Jewish history did away with a priesthood when the Temple was destroyed, and it became, supposedly, a religion of scholars. A rabbi is just a scholar.” ThinkingDestroyedTemplesScholarPriesthoodRabbiJewish History Author:Ben Katchor
“It's very clear from Biblical history and Jewish history that Jewish monotheism wasn't developed in an instant, that it became gradually the accepted norm. But undoubtedly, Jewish ancestors were polytheists.” ClearAcceptedInstantAncestorBiblicalNormMonotheismJewish History Author:Robert Winston
“Look at Jewish history. Unrelieved lamenting would be intolerable. So for every ten Jews beating their breasts, God designated one to be crazy and amuse the breast-beaters. By the time I was five I knew I was that one.” LooksWould BeFiveCrazyTenJewBreastsBeing CrazyJewish History Author:Mel Brooks
“If the main thing the next generations know about Jewish history is that we were persecuted and suffered, they will lose sight of the tremendous heritage of Jewish culture, theology, and wisdom.” IfsKnowsCultureNextLosesGenerationsSightTheologyHeritageJudaismNext GenerationPersecutedJewish HistoryJewish Culture Author:Deborah Lipstadt
“Written with grace and thoroughly researched, One People, One Blood is an ethnography with a lot of heart that also sheds new light on a fascinating and fraught chapter in recent Jewish history.” PeopleHeartLightGraceWrittenBloodFascinatingChaptersShedJewish HistoryEthnography Author:Ruth Behar
“Jewish history has been tragic to the Jews and no less tragic to the neighboring nations who have suffered them. Our major vice of old as of today is parasitism. We are a people of vultures living on the labor and good fortune of the rest of the world.” PeopleWorldHas BeensTodayNationsMajorsLaborFortuneJewVicesTragicJudaismGood FortuneLiving OnVultureJewish History Author:Samuel Roth
“Major Trends [is] the canonical modern work on the nature and history of Jewish mysticism. For a sophisticated understanding, not only of the dynamics of Jewish mysticism, but of the exquisite complexities of Jewish history and tradition, Major Trends is a major port of entry through which one must pass.” UnderstandingModernMajorsTraditionComplexityMysticismTrendsSophisticatedExquisitePortEntryDynamicsJewish History Author:Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi
“Won't it be wonderful when black history and native American history and Jewish history and all of U.S. history is taught from one book. Just U.S. history.” BookBlackWonderfulTaughtNativeNative AmericanAmerican HistoryBlack HistoryJewish History Author:Maya Angelou